Guinea Fowl Preferred Diet and Fowl/Chicken Management

[linuxusr]

Hello All,

I live in the Dominican Republic and keep a small flock of two hens and one rooster in my coop on the back second floor patio. My flock is nicely settled. I added one guinea hen as a probe to observe before deciding to add more guinea fowl. Ideally, I'd like two guinea hens and one male.
(1) Diet. Chickens eat with great alacrity "attacking" the food when you present it, as you all know. My guinea hen's reaction to food is more like "Meh." My food is sometimes moistened dog food (high protein) and a finely ground corn scratch. I read that in their natural environments guinea fowl predate insects and do a great job biocontrol in agriculture. What can I do to optimize my feed for my guinea hen?

(2) Behavior. On first introduction, flock fearful and scattered when in proximity. Fast forward, the roo sometimes pecks the g. hen. G. hen stays sequesterd, quite peacefully, legs tucked, on the top of the nesting boxes. Other times, when they are all out and about, they do not bother each other as long as they maintain distant.

I want to add a second female g. hen. I'm thinking that having a pair of g. fowl will induce their group behavior and could be a benefit.

Comments? Advice? Much appreciated.

 

[R2elk]

Hello All,

I live in the Dominican Republic and keep a small flock of two hens and one rooster in my coop on the back second floor patio. My flock is nicely settled. I added one guinea hen as a probe to observe before deciding to add more guinea fowl. Ideally, I'd like two guinea hens and one male.
(1) Diet. Chickens eat with great alacrity "attacking" the food when you present it, as you all know. My guinea hen's reaction to food is more like "Meh." My food is sometimes moistened dog food (high protein) and a finely ground corn scratch. I read that in their natural environments guinea fowl predate insects and do a great job biocontrol in agriculture. What can I do to optimize my feed for my guinea hen?

(2) Behavior. On first introduction, flock fearful and scattered when in proximity. Fast forward, the roo sometimes pecks the g. hen. G. hen stays sequesterd, quite peacefully, legs tucked, on the top of the nesting boxes. Other times, when they are all out and about, they do not bother each other as long as they maintain distant.

I want to add a second female g. hen. I'm thinking that having a pair of g. fowl will induce their group behavior and could be a benefit.

Comments? Advice? Much appreciated.

Read the thread Raising Guinea Fowl 101 and pay particular attention to posts made by @PeepsCA .

You will not get proper flock dynamics with only 3 guinea fowl. Guinea fowl are flock birds and do best in large groups.

 

[Moonbeam Guineas]

I have 12 free range guineas. They have a coop but put themselves to bed at night on a perch in my horses run in barn. Since they free range they devour bugs, I feed gamebird mini pellets, some chicken scratch mix, and meal worms.